The “If This Be Treason, Make the Most of It” Gabfest
Listen to Slate's show about Edward Snowden’s status as hero or traitor. Plus, you gotta fight for your right to be house proud.
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Chicago Live Show: Wednesday, July 10, 7 p.m., at the Thorne Auditorium on the Chicago campus of Northwestern University. Tickets and additional information.
On this week’s Slate Political Gabfest, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the oversight of the National Security Agency’s secret intelligence-gathering efforts and Edward Snowden’s status as hero or traitor. Plus, they discuss a New York Times photo tour of Beastie Boy Mike D’s new home in Brooklyn—a piece that incited a rousing email debate within the Slate office.
Here are some of the links and references mentioned during this week's show:
- Confused about what we know about government surveillance efforts? Check out ProPublica’s informative timeline.
- The Obama administration is too vague about what the NSA programs do and where they stop, writes Will Saletan.
- Some polling suggests that Democrats and Republicans have reversed their positions on domestic surveillance. Nate Silver thinks this could impact 2016 primaries.
- An NSA PowerPoint slide suggested that the government had “direct access” to servers at participating tech companies. But then several tech companies issued forceful denials. So how exactly does PRISM work? See Tim Lee’s Wonkblog FAQ.
- Is Snowden a traitor? Emily doesn’t think so.
- Could Snowden be convicted of treason? Dylan Matthews explains why this is legally improbable.
- The ultimate unmediated man, says David Brooks.
- The piece that inspired a heated Slate email thread about Mike D’s new house. In particular, don’t miss the pics!
John chatters about Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poems for young people.
Emily chatters about the pleasure of agreeing with Justice Clarence Thomas.
David chatters about that one dear wedding guest who you will never see again.
Topic ideas for next week? You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)
Podcast production by Mike Vuolo. Links compiled by Jeff Friedrich.